PEC Update Spring 2012

Dear Friends in Earth Care,

The latest PEC Update is here. Click here to access it in PDF Format.

During a recent conference call of the Steering Committee, members were asked to share their hopes for PEC and for Earthkeeping. Hopes included growth for PEC as well as deepening our relationship with our partner groups. Yet one person found these times of climate change too challenging to find hope. At that time we were reminded of the words of Dr. Bill Brown, who led our worship at our 2011 PEC Conference and said that “Hope finds us.”

So in that sense, embracing humility and faith, we come, with gratitude.

We come, in early 2012, to seek and share…

Refreshment and Rebirth as we look toward Resurrection (especially noting Bill Brown’s Easter message in PEC’s Lenten devotion on the ‘ecology of resurrection’.)

We come, looking toward…

Renewal and Re-commitment …through Earth Day (April 22) and the springing forth of newness in creation in the season of spring itself.

We come, inviting you to

Reconnect with PEC through networking such as with our Regional Representatives who are sending emails to members in their regions

And we invite you

Towards Reunion with us at General Assembly.

I have just returned from a partnership trip of Heartland Presbytery representatives to Maya Quiche Presbytery in Guatemala. I was able to connect in both social and environmental justice arenas. I toured and interviewed the owners of a sustainable coffee plantation (Finca Santa Elena) and hiked through a lush jungle area in northern Guatemala. (Each were both earth-embracing and educational events.) They represented a welcome stretch of my physical borders to embrace both these gifts of creation. I invite you likewise, this season and beyond, to stretch your virtual borders (and/or com-fort zones) and to renew your personal creation care commitments.

For example…

• Follow up the invitation of the Regional Reps to find ways to connect and re-connect with PEC (by volunteering to be on a committee or through financial support or expanding your earth care endeavors).
• Invite fellow Presbyterians to join PEC – or gift them with a membership!
• Share our Lenten Devotional
• Plan early for a memorable Earth Day 2012!
• Research and connect more with the issues highlighted in this Update
• Join us for GA
• And much, much more!!

I am grateful to all who have been a part of this issue, including Update coordinators Abby Mohaupt (Editor) and Holly Hallman. Thanks to Karen Turney who has represented the Advocacy Committee in submitting a timeline of environmental advocacy in the past several issues. Thanks as well to our GA partners represented, including Bill Somplatsky-Jarman and Rebecca Barnes-Davies.

I am grateful for each of you as you work for Earth-keeping …through Recommitment and Reconnection…

In Renewal and Hope,

Diane Waddell
Moderator
Presbyterians for Earth Care

First Week of Lent Devotional

Feasting on God’s Gifts; Fasting in Sorrow

A Lenten Devotional by Presbyterians for Earth Care 2012

Scripture – Psalm 84:1-4

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
² My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
⁴ Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise.

The most famous landmark in Rio De Janiero is Christ the Redeemer statue that stands atop Corcovado Hill. The Hill itself is over 2310 feet high. This statue of Christ, recently named one of the Seven Wonders of the World, embraces the city with his outstretched arms rising 30 meters into the sky from the top of the hill. To the world the statue may have many meanings: The victory of Christianity over the pagan native inhabitants; the supremacy of Christ over all the lesser gods people worship in the valley below; the presence of the suffering Christ who watches over the suffering of the millions of poor Favella dwellers in this city of contrasts.

What I discovered on a recent visit to this “marvelous city” is that the immediate surroundings of this statue of our Lord is Tijuca Park, the largest urban forest in the world. Home to 30 waterfalls, hundreds of plants and trees and at least 100 different animal species, the park actually reduces the medium temperature of the city by approximately nine degrees.

This 8000 acre rainforest was once stripped bare of its native vegetation by coffee and sugar cane plantations. Replanted over ten painstaking years by engineer M.G. Archer, Tijuca National Park was the result of the project which began in 1861. Concerned that the erosion and deforestation caused by the sugar and coffee plantations combined with a dramatic decrease in rainfall in the area would severely reduce drinking water available to his subjects, the Portuguese King Don Pedro II began the reforestation of the area. A tribute to his ecological mind, Tijuca National Park is one of the last few remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest that at one time dominated the Southern coast of Brazil.

Prayer - Holy One, as we contemplate the outstretched arms of the Christ the Redeemer statue, we know that it represents the actual redemption of a very real piece of God’s creation from the destruction wrought by the hands of humanity. We know that the living Christ is at work through our hearts and hands. Continue, as we fast in sorrow for what human hands have done and are doing to Your creation, to give us the feast of hope for, not only, the rain forests of Brazil but for the entire world.

Rev. Fred Milligan is an At-Large member of the PEC Steering Committee, where he chairs the Membership and Fundraising Committee. He also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Presbyterian Eco-Stewards program and its liaison with PEC. Fred currently serves as Interim Pastor, Head of Staff of The Presbyterian Church of Traverse City, Michigan.

Click here to access the devotional in PDF Format.

Ash Wednesday Devotional

Feasting on God’s Gifts; Fasting in Sorrow
2012 Presbyterians for Earth Care Lenten Devotional

Psalms 51:1-17
Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Morning Prayer:
Creator of all, we stand at this in-between place, recalling the advent wonder yet standing on the road that leads to the passion and cross. The Book of Common Prayer tells us that we are ash, dust, earth. Let us pause and find afresh the meaning of those words—a meaning that links us, earth, ash and dust, to that all-that-was-and-is-and-ever-will-be. …Words that place us neither over nor under all of your good works, simply pieces of your great whole.

Ah, the feasting is over. Mardi Gras has come and gone, the fat from Fat Tuesday has moved from lips to hips where it joins the Christmas cookies, New Year’s salty treats and Twelfth Night’s lovely crepes. It is Ash Wednesday with its solemn assembly and dusky cross on our foreheads. Our Lenten journey, this year will lead us to thoughts on how to feast from the table God sets before us in creation and how to fast from the things in our lives that tear at that lovely repast. But, for a moment let us consider the liminal space that comes between any two things. In Latin, liminal is the word for threshold. Ash Wednesday is that Day. It is the time/space between the feast and the fast but is neither. An image that explains liminality is that of a trapeze artist. Picture the person “flying” through the air and then letting go of the bar but still far from the bar that is coming from the other direction. That moment when one thing is gone and the next has not arrived. In the air. Not here and not there. Ash Wednesday is that day. There is the power and beauty of creation and there is our use/misuse of that. Between the two is liminal space and an invitation to pause and know, to hear the whisper of the still small voice, to let go of human “doing,” to wait.

Evening Prayer:
Do we really have to do this? Can’t we just buy daffodils and wait for the Easter Bunny? Advent is so nice. Now you are asking us to wear the soot of last year’s palms on our faces, marking us as different—as fellow travelers with The Twelve. Keep us from spinning off into the activities that buffer us from feeling the pain of the journey. Hold us, each day in the liminal space that reminds us of timeless earth, dust and ash.

Rev. Holly Hallman is the Northwest Regional Representative for PEC. She is a native of Colorado and lives in Seattle. She is often found (and heard) where there are opportunities for salmon advocacy.

Click here to access the devotional in PDF Format.

Eco-Stewards Program

Dear friends in Earth Care,

Are you, or do you know a young adult (20-30), who wants to grow in their faith, has a passion for earth care, and could benefit from a wonderful weeklong event focused on these two passions? Are you (or they) interested in a paid summer internship? Please consider participating in the Eco-Stewards Program. Read more about this PEC co-sponsored program below.

Blessings,

Diane Waddell, PEC Moderator

presbyearthcare.org - Find us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter

ECO-STEWARDS PROGRAM - Apply by March 1.

http://ecostewardsprogram.org

Applications are now available for the June 2-9, 2012 Eco-Stewards Program in Vermont and Boston. Spread the word!

This program for young adults (age 20-30) will focus on Climate Change & Christian Activism in light of the recent surge in protest movements from Occupy Wall Street to Tar Sands Action to 350.org.

Join the Eco-Stewards as they meet with Occupy Boston’s spiritual leaders, visit Walden Pond to discuss Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, help with Hurricane Irene relief projects in Vermont, talk with 350.org’s grassroots organizers and discuss our individual eco-faith journeys while hiking in the Green Mountains or paddling the Connecticut River. Among others, the program’s leadership will include: Rev. Rob Mark of Harvard University’s Memorial Church and First Presbyterian Church of Waltham, Massachusetts and Becky W. Evans, a freelance environmental journalist and communication professor at Boston University and Lasell College.

In addition to this weeklong event, paid and unpaid summer-long internships are also available.

You can download the application here. Rolling admissions close March 1. Questions? Send an email to revrobmark@gmail.com

PEC Lenten Devotional 2012

Click here to access our 2012 Lenten Devotional or, if you're not already a member, join PEC to get regular email devotional deliveries.

Friends in Earth Care,

We enter into Lent in gratitude for God’s graciousness. We are in awe of the beauty of this sacred space with which God has gifted us.

At the same time, we come in grief; with deep sorrow for the losses which Creation has borne…loss of topsoil, clean water, habitats of species; loss of clean air and pristine wilderness, of opportunity for fuller health and healing; and much more.

With this Lenten Devotional, Presbyterians for Earth Care invites you to enter into Lent with us … seeking… reflecting …pondering… “Feasting and Fasting” . Each devotional will contain Scripture, Prayer, and a Reflection. There is a reading for each holy day and one for each week of Lent.

The reflections are based on “Feasting and Fasting.” A 2006 set of devotionals from (then) Presbyterians for Restoring Creation followed a similar theme. Members explained,“We are called both to attend to the sacredness of Creation and to respond to it by active participation in the protection of Creation”.

You will receive this devotional electronically only. It will be shared a few days before the holy day or holy week it represents. It will also be available on the PEC website. Please share it with others.

Many thanks to those who helped develop these devotionals. Thanks also to Shantha Ready Alonso who prepared the layout and especially to the Rev. Holly Hallman, member of PEC’s Steering Committee, who worked as co-lead in developing this offering.

Deep peace and strength to us all as we enter into this sacred holy season. May we together seek and find the connections and blessings of feasting and fasting as we encounter Christ in and through Creation.

Click here to access our 2012 Lenten Devotional or join PEC to get regular email devotional deliveries.

Diane Waddell is a nurse practitioner, practicing integrative and holistic medicine. She is a moderator of Earthkeepers of Heartland Presbytery, which has been active in preparing eco-justice overtures for General Assembly.

PEC at GA!!

PC(USA) General Assembly this year will be June 30 through July 7 in Pittsburgh, PA.

PEC will be there!!!! We will have a booth in the Exhibit Hall and hope to see many of you there. (If anyone would like to help staff the booth, please let me - Diane Waddell - know!)

We will also have a presence in supporting the environmental justice related overtures. Currently there is an overture on supporting the EPA and one on supporting sustainable agriculture (both from Heartland Presbytery). If you know of others, please let me know. Also, if you are a commissioner, please let me know as well.

Our luncheon will be an event you will definitely want to add to your schedule. The speaker is The Rev. Randy Bush, pastor at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh. He submitted the winning sermon in the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance’s Food for Life Sermon Competition. The luncheon will be at the First Presbyterian Church on Thursday, July 5. At that time, we will hold our annual meeting and present out annual awards.

Individuals receive the William Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. Rev. William Gibson – after whom the individual award was named – was a founding member of PEC, author and eco-justice advocate. Editor of the book ,“Eco-Justice-The Unfinished Journey,” William was a leading member of the Presbyterian Eco-Justice Task Force, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation, and the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches.

Congregations, governing bodies, ecumenical agencies, and Presbyterian-related entities receive Restoring Creation Awards. Both of these awards are given to individuals and groups whose work for the environment is particularly praise-worthy and creative. The congregational (etc.) is generally awarded to a group who is in the general area of the meeting.

Active PEC members are encouraged to nominate an individual or group! You may access the award nomination form here and on the PEC website. Not an active member yet? Don't let that stop you from making a nomination. Click here to join PEC today.

See you at GA!!!

Diane

P.S. Email presbyearthcare@gmail.com to reach our Coordinator and she'll send me your messages.

King would not be silent on Earth’s plight

King would not be silent on Earth’s plight
(Re-posted with permission of the author.)

By DR. MYRON F. MCCOY (president of St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City)
Kansas City Star Special Insert, January 14, 2008, page 8

Like some who try to address contemporary issues through the lens of historical figures and time frames, I wish never to be guilty of attributing to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stances he would have never considered or subscribed to.

Saying that, I have every reason to believe that if Dr. King were around today, he would have much to say about global warming, environmental sustainability and our need to act immediately.

These concerns would be rooted in his strong belief that persons are to strive to live in harmony with both the physical and moral laws of God and acknowledge the consequences of our living in disharmony with such laws.

Therefore, global warming and our inability to work on issues of sustainability as a human race should make recognizable the lethal consequences of our failure to address this rampant disharmony.

Dr. King would readily perceive the danger we face with global warming, evidenced by victims still recovering in the Gulf region, the diminishing habitat of polar bears in the far north, and growing drought-like conditions in his native South and in the West.

And I do believe he would have a problem with our speaking of democracy and human rights with a “fork-like tongue” with some nations and not with others when our steady diet of energy consumption is at risk.

I’m convinced that if Dr. King were living today, we in the U.S. would be taken to task for our voracious consumerist appetite that has led to the depletion, destruction and destabilization of much of God’s creation.

We would be reminded that at least a quarter of the world’s population does not have access to electricity or safe drinking water, and that we are the world’s leading polluter and emitter of greenhouse gases in our disproportionate use of nonrenewable energy sources.

We would be challenged to look beyond our own comfort to consider the welfare and survival of our world and take the lead in turning the above picture around.

Also, being a man of faith and reason, Dr. King would have been persuaded by the evidence of scientists, fellow Nobel Prize laureates on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Gore.

I can imagine Dr. King challenging us with their forewarnings of the rising sea levels and the Earth’s surface being blighted by drought.

He would remind us, too, that these changes represent justice issues both here and abroad, as the poor will disproportionately suffer from our collective inability to recognize that “The Earth is the Lord’s.”

Dr. King would want us to communicate the message of dangerous disharmony to our elected officials. He would want us to tell the U.S. auto industry to engineer for even more miles per gallon than already agreed to by the president and Congress.

Dr. King is so right: “No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone. … We must all live together. … Or we will perish together as fools. We are tied together in a single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. … Whatever affects one directly affects all.”

We would be posited with this question from Dr. King: “What will happen to humanity if I don’t help?” Conservation would be emphasized, as it could relieve us of the pressure of jumping into quick fixes without considering all the risks and exploring other alternatives.

Conservation could help us from mounting faulty foreign policy objectives and adding to our position as a debtor nation. Everyone would be invited to do their part in conserving these “God-owned” and “God-given” precious resources.

Indeed, Dr. King would want people of faith to lead the way in contributing to environmental sustainability, as energy conservation could lead to more physical exercise, less pollution and numerous other direct benefits to human health.

He would want us to recognize that we’re quickly running out of time, and the time to begin doing the right thing is always now.

Eco-Palms for Palm Sunday Offered by PC(USA)

This year, Palm Sunday is April 1. Make less of an environmental impact this Lenten season by ordering Eco Palms from PC(USA)’s Enough for Everyone Ministry Office.

Here are some reasons (from their website) to encourage your congregation to order Eco Palms this year as you plan to commemorate Holy Week.

• Approximately 300 million palm fronds are consumed in the United States annually.
• A congregation of 1,250 members orders approximately 700 fronds for Palm Sunday services.
• Eco-palms are purchased directly from harvesters at 5 to 6 times the normal payment per frond. Your purchase of eco-palms helps improve standards of living and protect forests.

Palm-producing areas tend to be the home of poorer segments of the rural population where people rely heavily on the palm harvest for income. Although purchases of palms in the U.S. may reach as high as $4.5 million each year, the palm harvesters themselves earn very little.

Harvesting palm products is an important source of supplemental income for many indigenous families and communities in Guatemala and Mexico. However, over-harvesting palm can threaten the livelihood of these communities as well as the forests where the palm plants thrive and provide the shade required by the palms.

For more information, visit http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/enough/eco-palms/ or contact Melanie Hardison at (800) 728-7228, x5626 or Melanie.Hardison@pcusa.org.

Order soon as supplies are limited.

Message from the moderator: What Lies Ahead?

What lies ahead?

What lies ahead for Earth…this mystical creation… gift to all who live here on this abundant sphere?

What lies ahead for us in 2012 and after?

It is time to ponder… to discern possibilities… to re-engage our passion. Time is critical. We must make the decision to live much more simply…or it is likely we simply will not live. I have been trying to listen to several current prophets who have researched our heavy-‘footedness’ on the planet. Richard Heinberg, author of The Party’s Over and Peak Everything notes it is time to realize that the environment is NOT a subset of the economy….but the economy is a subset of the environment. It is time for us to give up our overuse of the gifts of God and share our gifts much more equitably. If we do not reassess and readjust our overuse, the planet, the web of creation, will be forced readjust for us.

PEC and other persons of faith hold the precious gift of theological, biblical reflection and subsequent opportunities for ministry. We can incorporate ‘gratitude’ into our being, and ‘reach out and touch, and hold’ in the name of God. We can teach, and pray, and work. We can hold, both within and without, a mystique which can move us along…and carry us forth in this world of overuse and overindulgence.

We are blessed with excellent collaborators on our eco- and social justice journey -- Environmental Ministries, Office of Public Witness, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Eco-Stewards, Presbyterian Camps and Conference Centers… just to begin to name the Presbyterian groups who work toward sustainability. We wish a very enthusiastic welcome to Rebecca Barnes-Davies, DMin, who is beginning as Associate for Environmental Ministries. Rebecca has an article in the next “Update”. (Also, please check out PCUSA’s new “Unbound. An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice").

We have a large number of persons who are in our network, and we also have so much potential for growth. We also have a significant impact in the denomination, and yet we know we can do more. We must never underestimate our passion and our gifts in ministry.

We invite and highly encourage all members…and friends…to become more involved within PEC. There are many ways we can do this. Soon, PEC’s Regional Representatives will be contacting you by email to introduce themselves and suggest ways of connecting. WE NEED YOU to let us know ways we can incorporate your gifts and enthusiasm for creation care. Also, please consider an additional financial support gift to PEC if you have not already responded to our letter of request late in 2011.

I am very grateful for each of you. Thanks to God for strength and grace of God in this journey.

With gratitude,

Diane Waddell

Moderator, Presbyterians for Earth Care

The photograph at the top is a picture of morning worship at the PEC 2011 Faith and Environment Conference at Highlands Camp and Conference Center. The theme of the conference was "God's Earth: Too Big to Fail? An Eco-Justice Conversation Among Faith, Environment, and Spirituality."

Now... is the time. A New Year Message from Diane Waddell, Moderator of Presbyterians for Earth Care

Now…is the time.
Now…as we begin this gift of 2012.
Now…as we breathe, and think, and ‘are’.
Now…in this very moment of moments.
The time is now…to reawaken and rejuvenate ourselves, our work/ministry, our relationship to others, and our commitment as caretakers of Creation.

I invite you to personally enhance your way of connecting with Earth. This is could be through prayer, meditation, creative writing or other art forms. Something I have done for a several years is a morning spiritual routine. It includes prayers of gratitude and blessing, Meditation, Tai chi, qi gong (using forms which connect with creation), yoga and other balancing exercises (and ideally meditative readings or walking meditation.) These are helpful to me in enhancing my connection with God, others, and Creation.

With your personal spiritual base as center, continue to reach out to others in your family, congregation, and community. Begin or enhance a special worship space specifically for justice issues…both social justice and eco-justice (since they are intrinsically related). Rejuvenate (or start) your creation care team. Try to keep current in the areas of water, soil, air, food, health, and wildlife (etc.) concerns. (The PEC Advocacy Committee is looking at the causes of climate change, specifically in the areas of hydro-fracking, mountaintop removal, and the tar sands issues.)

It is very easy to get overwhelmed with this; so try to keep centered; connect with God and Creation through breathing and your set routine.

And remember our saints and sages from the past. We are not new at this.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) wrote

Without the WORD of God
No creature has being.
God’s WORD is in all creation;
visible and invisible.
The WORD is living being,
spirit,
all verdant greening,
all creativity.
All creation is awakened,
called
by the resounding melody,
God’s invocation of the WORD.
This word manifests in every creature.
Now this is how the spirit is in the flesh – the WORD is indivisible from GOD.

(Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen, ed. Uhlein, Bear & Co)

Blessings and both peace and passion to you all in this new year. Diane Waddell
Moderator, Presbyterians for Earth Care